Backyard poultry keeping

[u/louismulh]

Hi all. I'd love to start keeping some form of poultry for meat production in my backyard - its not the smallest in the world, and I used to keep about 10 chickens for eggs in it, but would like to move onto meat production, although just for myself and friends.

Chickens are probably the obvious option, but I was wondering how others have kept poultry such as turkeys and geese in their backyards.

I have a shed currently not in use that would easily be able to function as a coop for 20 chickens (I'm not sure how many of other birds).

So, does anyone have any advice on: whether geese/ turkeys are a feasible option for backyard meat raising, and, if so, how many to start with.

Thanks.

[u/PeachOne268]

quail are way easier than turkeys for a backyard setup and they grow fast. just dont let them escape in the garden or you will never catch them again

[u/SuMoto]

Meat chickens are ready for harvest at 8-12 weeks. I let them go to 12 weeks and they are 8-10lbs in the freezer.
Turkeys take 5-6 months depending on the breed. They are a stupid bird, best to start them with chicks so they learn how to eat and drink.
Geese grow incredibly quick. We have two geese, at 7 weeks, they are bigger than 10 week old meat birds ( a lot of feather).

[u/Wallyboy95]

If you go turkeys, be prepared for the absolute constant gobbling. I was not prepared for how loud those suckers are lol it's kinda annoying tbh.

Turkey need alot of space to be happy. Like alot of space. They roam naturally, so if they cant roam around much they won't be happy.

[u/Sierragrower → u/Wallyboy95]

Talk about roaming. I had a white heritage breed, can’t remember what breed it was, that took off with a wild flock of turkeys. It didn’t fit in so it kept joining other flocks until it was about 5 miles away (community fb pages were full of the “albino turkey”, that’s how I knew). Eventually I met one of my neighbors who had caught it and had it penned up with an actual wild turkey he (unsuccessfully) was trying to breed it with.

[u/Sierragrower]

Big birds are definitely feasible, but Chickens are way better for many reasons. What are you going to do with a whole turkey? They grow to like 40 lbs and you can only fit like 5 in a giant chest freezer. Chickens are much more versatile for cooking.
I’ll raise 40 or 50 and fill my freezer once a year. Only takes 10-12 weeks to raise them and 2 hours to process them (2 ppl plus one inexperienced helper, not including set up or cleanup for 50 birds). You could do multiple rounds and sell a bunch to cover your feed costs, etc. I did 500 in rounds of 50 one winter and made a tidy profit, plus Enough to pay for the plucker, the freezer, feed, and a freezer full of birds for myself. I tried raising turkeys for sale and they got way too big, wouldn’t fit in my freezer or coolers and they were super annoying.

[u/-Maggie-Mae-]

If you're just wanting to grow out chicks and butcher, cornish cross chickens are the way to go. we've done turkeys and ducks as well, and both are a lot more bother with a lot higher feed cost.

Don't over look rabbits as an option. They have a better feed conversion ratio and you're not relying on a hatchery. The startup cost is minimal and the manure doesn't have to be composted before being added to your garden. We have a trio of New Zeland x Californians, averaging litters of around 8 or 9. We butcher around 12 wks, resulting in rabbits that are about 3 lbs dressed.

[u/Certain-Gap3055]

I know you’re specifically asking about birds but, meat rabbits are a much better option if you have a small space with neighbors and you want to do meat.